Video: Beg-packing or just hitching? Foreigners with "no money" spark debate

[jkcjag]

The only reason the driver stopped, I'm sure, was in the hope that they were prepared to pay for a taxi to their planned destination...a rather stupid assumption, since they were clearly hitch hiking...but perhaps this was a concept that he didn't recognize. They look quite respectable. It appears that he was simply being advised, in as simple English as possible...i.e. in 2 words, that they didn't want to spend their limited funds on a taxi, as they needed to conserve them for necessary sustenance on their continued travels. 

[animalmagic]

4 hours ago, CelticBhoy said:

Thai people will video anything these days and make a mountain out of a molehill.

Now I understand the reference to accepting the bra in payment- making a mountain out of a molehill?

[CARLO BALDASSARRE]

Mmmmm,

                  yeh Poor,winging it all the way .....thailand to expensive .....really embarasses me watching these so eager guys coming from the airport trying to winging it to their destination if they have one ....

                                     Must be exhausting living in a day to day bases ....an when shit hits the fan ....who picks the pieces up ...Happens quite alot ...

                                                        Ohhh i could be wrong .....??!!!!

 

                

[348GTS]

Here is the point some are missing. Beg-packers are entitled privileged idiots who want people in a 3rd world country - who for the most part earn way less than they do and have a way lower standard of living than they do - pay their way for them.  Comparing youngsters hitching across America in the 70s or backpacking around Europe or whatever to idiots claiming to have no money to travel to Kanchanburi (when they can take a bus or a train for peanuts) is misguided at best. At least in those instances, those people were 'begging' from people from within their own culture and similar resources. And if they have no money, then who is going to house and feed them when they get there? Even worse, foreigners who sit outside BTS stations "busking" whilst asking Thai people to finance their travels and their stay in Thailand. I find it embarrassing and despicable to beg money from people way poorer than you, who will likely never be able to afford to travel anywhere overseas in their lifetime. As is so often pointed out on these forums, we don't have the right to be here and this type of behaviour will ultimately lead to more Thai people losing patience with us. And yes we all get tarred with the same brush by virtue of not being Thai, and to think otherwise is just naive.

[kentrot]

Hitch hike in your home country where your peers make a decent wage ... ok.

 

But in Thailand where the average wage is 13,000 Baht a month ( $14 U.S. a DAY ), an educated person from Europe or North America should be able to figure out that this is NOT a country you come to with your open palm out for freebies.

 

The average American gets $25 an HOUR.

 

If you can't afford a bus - stay home !!!

 

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/average-salary-information-for-us-workers-2060808

[richard_smith237]

19 minutes ago, Kieran00001 said:

 

Actually I am someone different to the one who felt that people who felt bothered enough to post about these hitchhikers was remarkable, you thought that was ironic, you were wrong, but never mind, epic or not your post was one big failure, that is just a fact. 

 

You don't see the irony in someone posting on a thread they believe not to be worth posting on?

 

... That my comment may or not be a 'fail' is not a fact... its just your opinion - thats a fact for you.

[0815]

It doesn't mean that they don't have money, it's to save money for booze, bungy jumping, zip lining ...

[amnicoll]

I have heard of Russians who pride themselves in traveling round SEA spending nothing and relying on locals and westerners to house and feed them

 

Whilst hitchhiking is (or was) far more common in Europe I have to say if you can not afford the bus go home. Of course if they were in the sticks with no regular public transport then trying to hitch a lift is a valid option - often it is not even necessary to hitch as many a time someone has stopped and offered me a lift

[impulse]

47 minutes ago, brucec64 said:

I agree with you completely. I hitchhiked around Australia when I was young. Not really a money thing, but more of a challenge. and a great way to meet interesting people along the way. And if you are old and bitter and hate hitchhikers, just keep driving. Don't worry - cars driving past is something you get used to very quickly when standing on the side of the road.

 

Some of the most successful people I have known since my youth learned their people and negotiating skills doing exactly what these kids are doing.  They weren't even broke back then.  Just frugal, and with a sense of adventure, and a desire to learn about people. 

 

It's easy to go around the world on a big budget.  You don't learn many life skills that way, though.

 

[richard_smith237]

7 minutes ago, 348GTS said:

Here is the point some are missing. Beg-packers are entitled privileged idiots who want people in a 3rd world country - who for the most part earn way less than they do and have a way lower standard of living than they do - pay their way for them.  Comparing youngsters hitching across America in the 70s or backpacking around Europe or whatever to idiots claiming to have no money to travel to Kanchanburi (when they can take a bus or a train for peanuts) is misguided at best. At least in those instances, those people were 'begging' from people from within their own culture and similar resources. And if they have no money, then who is going to house and feed them when they get there? Even worse, foreigners who sit outside BTS stations "busking" whilst asking Thai people to finance their travels and their stay in Thailand. I find it embarrassing and despicable to beg money from people way poorer than you, who will likely never be able to afford to travel anywhere overseas in their lifetime. As is so often pointed out on these forums, we don't have the right to be here and this type of behaviour will ultimately lead to more Thai people losing patience with us. And yes we all get tarred with the same brush by virtue of not being Thai, and to think otherwise is just naive.

 

Your points are all valid... But, these Back-Packers are not begging, they are hitch-hiking to their next destination. What they are doing is very different from sitting on the steps of a 7-11 or the BTS and begging for money to get home, begging for food etc... 

 

They're on the road hitching a ride to their next destination - the only sensitivities this seems to be upsetting is the silly-bitter-farts on this forum and an entitled taxi driver who was expectant of a decent fare. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[smotherb]

Just now, ThaiFelix said:

Oh now I see...its jealousy.  You seem to not like the idea of having to work when someone else isnt.  And maybe you didnt have the intestinal fortitude when you were younger to venture out into the world like these guys. 

 

I have hitchhiked all around Australia, Southern Africa, New Zealand, Europe etc when I was younger and it certainly was not because I didnt have the money nor ever wished for someone else to pay my way.  I worked on the premise that the more money I saved by hitch-hiking the more places I could see. When I could find work I would work....from farm work to bar tending, and then back on the road.  Hitch-hiking is also the purest form of travel because you are really meeting the true locals who were often very willing to pick me up for some company on their long lonesome drive.  I never asked for any money from anybody, I just took up an empty seat in a car going my way.  I certainly was not ever called a bum, derelick, tramp or smelly.  Most people admired what I was doing and thus were more than happy to help me on my way.

 

 

Jealousy now is it? Yeah, you bet, I am jealous of someone who has so little money that they have to beg rides. If you call that freedom, you have no idea of the word.

 

I traveled around the US and Canada at 18. I had worked since I was ten--cutting grass, folding clothes at a laundry, working in a carnival, even drove a school bus at 17. So I bought an old car and with two buddies we traveled and paid our way. When we ran out of money, we worked--washed cars, washed dishes, did odd jobs, even fought forest fires. We didn't ask anybody for anything, except a job. Then I went to college full-time and worked full-time to pay for it; didn't ask for anything I didn't work for. At 22, I traveled the world--airfare, hotels, ground transport, housing paid for by the company, because I worked for it. Sorry, if I don't admire what you did. You say they were more than happy to help you, eh? Or did they feel sorry for you?

 

I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I've found I can do that, if it isn't illegal, and all I have to do is work for it. I have no respect for anyone who doesn't.  That is my opinion.

 

As I said, I don't blame Thailand, or any country, for not wanting foreigners who do not have the funds the government deems necessary.  It is their country.

[Cletus]

If you cannot afford a few hundred baht ticket you shouldn't be there. Bus minivan train taxi very cheap in Thailand.

[AsiaHand]

6 hours ago, RotMahKid said:

Hitchhiking is very normal to do in western countries, it can bring you free to far destinations. I also did many times when I was younger and it does not mean " No Money ", because if I did not get a ride, I took the train or other transportation.

You are right sir.In the 1950s and 1960s as a young Marine  I hitchhiked all over the  US both in and out of uniform.I had great adventures and learned a lot about people.Would do it all over again if I were younger.

[Jim walker]

When I was in my early teen I used to hitch-hike into town all the time and when I got my weekly pocket money on a Friday was away to the main road in a flash never used a bus always my thumb went to the cinema and if I resisted an ice cream at the cinema I had enough for a bag of chips to eat as I hitched a lift again on the way home. Safer days then for kids hitch-hiking.  not a cheap Charlie just what the funds allowed at the time  

[348GTS]

5 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

Your points are all valid... But, these Back-Packers are not begging, they are hitch-hiking to their next destination. What they are doing is very different from sitting on the steps of a 7-11 or the BTS and begging for money to get home, begging for food etc... 

 

They're on the road hitching a ride to their next destination - the only sensitivities this seems to be upsetting is the silly-bitter-farts on this forum and an entitled taxi driver who was expectant of a decent fare.

 

Yeah agree pretty much, however the hitch hiking suggestion was an assumption made by various people in the original piece who were defending them. However the story said that the people in question stated "they had no money". The taxi driver's comments are just white noise, I am sure his viewpoint was motivated by not getting a fare, but the debate seems to have evolved into whether they were hitching for the adventure or bumming a free ride because they had no money.

[Thaivisa2006]

He just saves his budget for then paying 10-times the entrance fee of Thais to visit a temple or a national park... or the next taxi rip off.

 

[Kieran00001]

28 minutes ago, richard_smith237 said:

 

You don't see the irony in someone posting on a thread they believe not to be worth posting on?

 

... That my comment may or not be a 'fail' is not a fact... its just your opinion - thats a fact for you.

 

They commented on the fact that they found it remarkable that people found it worthy to comment on the subject, if they had also commented on the subject then it would have been ironic, but they didn't, so it wasn't.  

 

I know what irony means, you don't, fact.

[chuang]

Why are these guys not genuine travelers?

Genuine travellers travel with genuine money not with cardboards[emoji14]

Sent from my Redmi 3S using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

[DJ54]

They look to have clean clothes and recently showered. Probably saving 

where they can and on a budget. Young kids out to see the world. 

 

I hitched bikes a bit in the 70’s in USas well picked up some hitchhikers when I had a car. In the US irs came to the point it dangerous and most 

do not hitchhike anymore. 

 

Thailand seems relatively safe to me. The folks in the video are not alone so chances of being safer is on their side. 

 

In our late teens Me,My brother and another male were shopping and a couple of guys asked if we could give them a ride home. Turned out when dropping them out a herd came out of the house taking our wallets etc. Let say it was on the seedy side of town.

[richard_smith237]

4 minutes ago, Kieran00001 said:

 

They commented on the fact that they found it remarkable that people found it worthy to comment on the subject, if they had also commented on the subject then it would have been ironic, but they didn't, so it wasn't.  

 

I know what irony means, you don't, fact.

 

Agreed.... a poster commented in a thread on which he considered the subject not worthy of comment, thus contributing to a thread he considers unworthy.

 

That you don't see the irony in that does not make it any less ironic... it just means you have interpreted that the poster in question commented on the thread and not in it. 

 

....Now, we can go round in circles all day and as interesting as these semantics are I fear we'd end up deliberating over what is and isn't 'fact' and the difference between opinion and fact. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[atyclb]

perhaps he has to be frugal after not being able to use the 800, 000 baht he put in a thai bank?

[Bluespunk]

24 minutes ago, chuang said:

Genuine travellers travel with genuine money not with cardboards

Sent from my Redmi 3S using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app
 

Travelling has many forms.

 

I prefer luxury these days, but would not swap the memories of my budget traveling days for anything.

[metisdead]

Offensive posts and the replies have been removed. 

[HHTel]

I would ask many of the derogatory posters on here just to type 'Hitch Hiking' into Google.  They will find literally hundreds of sites relating experiences, giving tips, suggesting routes, how to keep safe etc.  99% of these sites are positive unlike this forum.

There are even sites about hitching in Thailand.

It's not 'begging' in the true sense of the word and not always about money but more about choice.

[ThaiFelix]

1 hour ago, smotherb said:

Jealousy now is it? Yeah, you bet, I am jealous of someone who has so little money that they have to beg rides. If you call that freedom, you have no idea of the word.

 

I traveled around the US and Canada at 18. I had worked since I was ten--cutting grass, folding clothes at a laundry, working in a carnival, even drove a school bus at 17. So I bought an old car and with two buddies we traveled and paid our way. When we ran out of money, we worked--washed cars, washed dishes, did odd jobs, even fought forest fires. We didn't ask anybody for anything, except a job. Then I went to college full-time and worked full-time to pay for it; didn't ask for anything I didn't work for. At 22, I traveled the world--airfare, hotels, ground transport, housing paid for by the company, because I worked for it. Sorry, if I don't admire what you did. You say they were more than happy to help you, eh? Or did they feel sorry for you?

 

I want to do what I want to do when I want to do it. I've found I can do that, if it isn't illegal, and all I have to do is work for it. I have no respect for anyone who doesn't.  That is my opinion.

 

As I said, I don't blame Thailand, or any country, for not wanting foreigners who do not have the funds the government deems necessary.  It is their country.

You seem to be completely missing the point every time?  Have you been reading the other posts on here to get an idea of what most other people are saying.  Its not because they dont have money that most hitch-hike (or used to).  I repeat what I and others have already said many times and I will try to keep it simple.  People hitch-hike:

 

1.  for the adventure and freedom,

2.  in order to meet other interesting people,

3.  with the knowledge that the more they save the more places they can see or things they can do/buy.

 

And how do you know these people havnt worked for years to get to another country?  Ok some people work to have a holiday in another country but stay in a flash hotel and travel by taxi etc but they dont see the real people.  Others, like hitch-hikers/backpackers also work to go for a holiday but they travel the back streets and meet the real people and manage to see 3 countries AND the real people/culture etc.

 

 

 

[baansgr]

8 hours ago, sup3r1or said:

Thailand and a lot of other countries do not culturally get the idea of backpacking and hitchhiking. This is not the place to do they, they won't get it and they shouldn't. 

Maybe if they brought themselves out of the dark ages they would. Also what about all these millions of posts that go on about the kindness of Thais helping foreigners, yet here they are when its not a staged act saying is begging and wrong

[ttrd]

20 minutes ago, HHTel said:

I would ask many of the derogatory posters on here just to type 'Hitch Hiking' into Google.  They will find literally hundreds of sites relating experiences, giving tips, suggesting routes, how to keep safe etc.  99% of these sites are positive unlike this forum.

There are even sites about hitching in Thailand.

It's not 'begging' in the true sense of the word and not always about money but more about choice.

Correct, and the basis for this thread and the taxi driver reaction is not about the hitch hiking itself which is practiced also by Thais - rather the surprise of seeing foreigners doing such activity when they are supposed to be made of cash.... 

[retoohs]

8 hours ago, sup3r1or said:

Thailand and a lot of other countries do not culturally get the idea of backpacking and hitchhiking. This is not the place to do they, they won't get it and they shouldn't. 

I'm 60 years old and still sometimes hitch if it is the most convenient way. My Thai wife has no such cultural problems hitching with me in NZ. Would I hitch in LOS? No, I value my safety to much for that, my camera is probably worth more than 5 times the annual income of a Thai taxi driver. It may be the only thing of value I travel with but it is enough to create the possibility of a big problem. People have gone missing for far less. As for those hitching in Thailand, do it at your own peril, you are gambling with your life and probably too stupid or ignorant to realise. If anyone see's them at it again tell them Cambodia is a real easy country to hitch around. Bye-bye.

[ChiangMai101]

2 hours ago, brucec64 said:

 

I agree with you completely. I hitchhiked around Australia when I was young. Not really a money thing, but more of a challenge. and a great way to meet interesting people along the way. And if you are old and bitter and hate hitchhikers, just keep driving. Don't worry - cars driving past is something you get used to very quickly when standing on the side of the road.

 

 

 

G'day mate!  Where ya headed?

[rascalman]

They should be sent to their embassies, then deported.